Africa: A - F

Child soldiers were used extensively during the 27-year civil war by both government armed forces and the armed opposition group UNITA (União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), and were also used by the armed separatist Cabinda Liberation Front (Frente de Liberação do Enclave de Cabinda, FLEC). There were no reports of under-18s currently being recruited into the armed forces.

There were no reports of under 18s in the armed forces.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces.

Children were recruited and used by the armed opposition group FNL. Government forces continued to use captured child soldiers for intelligence-gathering. Scores of children accused of membership of or support for the FNL were illegally detained and some were tortured in detention.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces.

17-year-olds could volunteer for military service with parental consent. No information was available on the presence of under-18s in the armed forces.

The opposition Popular Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (APRD) and the Union of Democratic Forces (UFDR) used children in hostilities which broke out in early 2005. Both expressed willingness to demobilize their child soldiers, but only the UFDR had officially entered a disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process by October 2007. Children were thought to be present in government armed forces, but were not believed to be actively involved in hostilities.

Increased recruitment of children by Chadian armed forces and Chadian and Sudanese armed groups was reported in 2006 and 2007, in particular along Chad’s eastern border with Sudan and from its refugee and displaced persons camps. Despite an agreement by the government to facilitate the demobilization of child soldiers, an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 children remained in armed forces and groups in September 2007.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces.

An estimated 7,000 child soldiers remained in government forces and armed groups, including foreign armed groups mostly to be found in the eastern provinces of Equateur, Ituri, Katanga, North and South Kivu, and Maniema. They were used as combatants, porters, guards and sexual slaves. Children were recruited from refugee camps in Rwanda and used by armed groups in North Kivu.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces. An unknown number of child soldiers and former child soldiers were thought to remain with an armed group.

Children, including former child soldiers from the Liberian conflict, were recruited for use in pro-government militias and the armed opposition group Forces armées des Forces nouvelles (FAFN) at least until late 2005. Active recruitment of children appeared to have stopped from October 2006, but by late 2007 children reportedly continued to be associated with both militias and the FAFN, despite concerted efforts at demobilization.

Although obligatory by law, in practice military service was voluntary. Only men over 18 years old could volunteer for military service.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces.

Forcible recruitment of under-18s had previously been reported. However there was no recent information, due to severe restrictions on access to independent observers by the government.

There were no reports of child recruitment or use by government forces or armed opposition groups, although independent monitoring was severely limited.

There were no reports of under-18s in the government security forces.